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Woodman Public House Easy Row

Was very surprised to discover there was a Woodman inn on Easy Row as far back as 1828. This building wouldn't have been the one shown so far on this thread, as it was re-built in 1893. Below I've also included a description of the earlier "world famed hostelry" in 1834. Viv.
 

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I posted a number of tile pics from The Woodman and they are in the Pubs from the past thread.
 
A few more of the painted tiles showing old Birmingham Scenes tat I missed in my earlier posts,

The Crown Digbeth
The Tripe House Well Street
The Bullring
The Golden Lion Digbeth
The Hen & Chickens New Street


The Crown.jpg

Tripe House.jpg

bull ring.jpg

Golden Lion.jpg

Hen & Chickens.jpg
 
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A photo showing the location of the Woodman on Easy Row plus on of the ornate stained glass and wooden screens in the smoke room and lastly another photo of the public bar taken from the other direction to that of the one I posted in an earlier post.

phil01_0007.jpg

smoke room wood & glass screens.jpg public bar.jpg
 
When I was working on the 2017 Birmingham Grid Project I took a photo of the place I think the Woodman was. The irony is that this building has now been lost to the next phase of redevelopment. Saying that, I much preferred the old row of buildings on Easy Row.CC59-Entrance-to-Georgian-House-Easy-Row-1.jpg
 
Morturn said:
When I was working on the 2017 Birmingham Grid Project I took a photo of the place I think the Woodman was. The irony is that this building has now been lost to the next phase of redevelopment. Saying that, I much preferred the old row of buildings on Easy Row.View attachment 123221
Click to expand...
I wouldn't have classed that as Easy Row as The West End cinema was opposite maybe a bit lower , that was Suffolk Street
 
Yes, Mort, that new one has next to no architectural value at all IMHO.

As for those interior photos, Phil, marvelous! I must have walked past that place dozens of times in the 1950s, but can never remember going in.

Maurice
 
The fate of the Bath stone carved woodman and dog from the front of the building. See story attached. Viv.

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In Phil's first photo in post #66 the Woodman was next door to #4 (Thomas Armstrong's). So was that between Edmund Street and Paradise Street ? I thought the corner of Edmund Street in Phil's photo showed the single storey curved building of the Govt Stationary Office on the corner of Edmund Street and Easy Row. Viv.
 
Looking from the other direction, I think this is where the Woodman would have been - red dot. The Stationery Office would have been just behind the bus - the road to the left of the bus was Edmund Street. Viv.
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I certainly had got it down as between Edmund Street and Paradise Street, and overlaying old map data I am quite close to the spot.

Great film Viv, such a sad loss
 
A festooned Woodman. Maybe end of WW1 ? Not sure of the occasion, but I bet the Woodman's profits soared that day. Viv

image.jpeg
 
Sorry Lyn - yes the video was posted earlier on another Woodman thread which I've subsequently merged with this one.

And nice to see this thread more complete now with images etc restored Thanks all.

Shall move any useful references from the Easy Row thread to here too. Viv.
 
For info. The Clent Woodman pub is now called the French Hen. It's at the junction of Woodman Lane and Bromsgrove Road. Haven't been able to detect any sign of the carving(s). So if anyone's in the vicinity .........

I've found a reference for the Woodman dating back to 1824 (well it's actually an incident reported there in November 1823). So the history of an inn/tavern/hotel on the site was a long one. Viv.
 

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hi alan i dont know about that particular one..but the story i heard was that all the tiling was sold off to various pubs around the city...i have yet to see any evidence of this....my guess would be they were all smashed up and skipped but no one wants to own up to such a massive blunder...would love to be proved wrong though

lyn
 
I have done a bit of work on the Architect of the Woodman, Henry Naden, he did a couple of building in and around Birmingham as follows:

Henry Naden was a Birmingham Architect based at 54, Livery Street, Birmingham. He was responsible for designing several buildings, including;

The Woodman pub which once stood on Easy Row, off Broad Street, instead of a painted sign it features a grand statue of a wood cutter over the main entrance. Its exterior was grand, and photographs show a very comfortable interior. Built in 1891-2, it was popular with councillors, nipping in after meetings at the Council House nearby and later on students from the School of Art. It was demolished in 1965, a victim of the city inner ring road, is was huge loss to the city.

The Imperial Arcade in Dale End, it has a single entrance, and the dates about 10 years after the Great Western Arcade was built.

Has anyone a picture of this?​


Athol Masonic Hall, 60 Severn Street, Birmingham banqueting hall. Decorated with Stars of David, was added for the Freemasons in 1871-2. The Torah Ark was retained by the Freemasons with only slight modifications. It's handsome, fluted Doric columns and classical entablature remain. The Master's Chair is placed in the former Torah Ark niche.

Has anyone a picture of this?​

Magdalene Chapel, Birmingham 1861-1863, Excepting 'side walls'. Naden responsible for initial plans; Holmes for plans for new chapel, 1863.

Ditto​

The adjoined east building at Sandfields Pumping Station as an additional space for the 190 horse power Cornish Beam engine.


A number of ther South Staffordshire Waterworks buildings....
 
Just joined the forum. Thanks for the interesting walk down memory lane, the Woodman Inn was kept by my uncle and aunt, Fred and Mabel, up to the time it was demolished. As a child me and my sister spent many happy hours running around the beautiful Victorian bars, helped Fred make up the fires before opening and used to hang out of the upper floor windows watching the Birmingham Carnival go past throwing pennies down. My mother was also the cook for many years. So many lovely pictures.
 
I remember it very well as a friend of the family used the place regularly up till the mid to late 60's , I never went in myself too young to begin with then our crowd in the 60's used The Wandering Minstrel The Crown and a pub facing Chetwyns before it changed it's name to Sam Wellers . I've just thought that pub's name was The Alhambra, latter pubs both being in Hill St .
 
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I was always dazzled by the beauty of the Woodman, the solid wooden bars, and colored glass, the tiles, the place was spotless, and the beer good, as mentioned lovey fires, a real English Public House. I must say that the powers to be demolished some fantastic Georgian/ Victorian buildings in there rush to modernize Birmingham, but that was a crime. to destroy such a wonderful old hostelry. Paul
 
totally agree paul the woodman and the josiah mason college are probably my 2 top biggest and i mean biggest errors of judgement made by our wonderful council and lets face it they have made many over the years and continue to do so...sadly history counts for nowt in what was once the city of a thousand trades

lyn
 
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